Texans lose to Madden and Titans, 32-31

The Texans lost to the Titans this morning, in one of the best games of the season. One that will fuel their hatred/lovetred for their rival until the next time they meet.

The first quarter saw a FG by the Titans, and a missed field goal by the Texans. The Aussie lag proved to be a large factor in today's game.

The 2nd qtr is where the Texans lit it up. Cassel connected with Andre Johnson for a 10 yd TD, and Vince Young responded with a 15 yd TD pass to Kenarious "Dickhead" Fluellen. Then Earl "BONES" Bowman started hitting his stride, with a 28 yd rumbled to the end zone. Rackers got his FG, Cassel hit Boldin for a TD, and Fluellen responded for the Titans. In the third, Bones broke off a big 17 yard run for the endzone.

Then the Titans came to life. Down 31-17 in the 4th quarter, he started pulling out magic plays like David "Madden" Copperfield. Did you know David Copperfield's middle name is "Madden?" You do now!

Like a total jerkoff, Vince Young pissed and moaned on a one yard QB sneak into the end zone, and the "Ditans" lived up to their names (though only in the 4th quarter. They were lousy the rest of the game), and forced some stops and some fumbles by the Texans. Well, the Texans fumbled twice. The second one was reversed. Nnamdi and Cortland both had picks as well.

ANYWAYS, the Texans get the ball, and slowly traverse down the field, the score 31-24. Less than two minutes to go (I think). It's something like 4th and 2, and Texans owner/GM/head coach Mike Suszek knows he'd be an asshole if he went for it. So Rackers squares up for the field goal. Then Chris and the Titans team sacrifice a LIVE chicken on the sidelines, praying to the gods of lag. A hiccup in the connection causes Rackers' PERFECT kick to just miss to the right.

The Titans, capitalizing on this opportunity, make dickhead play and asshole play, and get their way down to the end zone. With little time left, Vince Young connects with Driskell, who is apparently the TE that replaced the broken Owen Daniels (doh!). 30-31. Speaking of, the Texans' starting TE, Venus Williams (not really, but his name escapes me. There's a V in it, I think to start it. V-v-v... VERNON DAVIS!) broke his stupid collarbone, probably to "even the score" for the damage done to Daniels earlier in the season by the Texans. For those keeping score, the Texans went from having 4 TEs, then thanks to trading Bo Scaife and losing Davis (Venus Williams) and Travis Beckum, who while on IR managed to make his way to three or four different teams, they are down to one TE. FAN-TASTIC.

Anyways, 31-30. What happened next will go down in league history as one of the best comebacks that the opponent honestly hates Madden 11 for, yet still commends the winner. The Titans go for 2. Vince Young rolls out to the right, whining and moaning the whole way while saying something about how he'll kill himself. A Texans LB starts closing in on him, and he sees (I think) Driskell as his lone option to the right. He's well-covered by, I'm quite certain, Nnamdi Asomugha.

And then Madden 11's shit-faced defense reared its ugly head. Nnamdi, or whoever it was, began closing in on Young (the fuck!?). In a split-second's time, Young fires the ball to (again, I think) Driskell, to take the late lead, 32-31.

The Texans have 11 seconds to respond. Hitting Anquan Boldin deep downfield, he gets caught in a "I'm trying to break a tackle but I'm ultimately going to fall over" animation. Two-ish seconds tick off the clock after the play is dead, all while Suszek is mashing the button to call a timeout.

Two missed field goals, and a defender that wouldn't realistically have pulled off his assigned receiver to give up the 2-pointer. Then a timeout that went ignored by refs.

Am I mad? I was furious this morning, but I've calmed down a bit. I don't regret a thing, though (well, other than not manually covering or something at the end). The Titans came back and won a huge game, one that I feel I owned him in. Falling apart in the 4th qtr really sucked, and I wish I knew what happened there. But as always, I love playing Chris (minus the stupid lag), and I feel this was our best game against one another.

Based on the Texans' schedule and how the division is shaping up, they lost all their confidence of getting into the playoffs today. Dammit!

STATS!

TEN (32) / HOU (31)
Total Offense Yards - 322 / 403
Passing Offense Yards - 256 / 270
Rushing Offense Yards - 66 / 133
First Downs - 15 / 18
3rd Down % - 77.8 / 62.5
Turnovers - 2 / 1
Redzone Scoring % - 100.0 / 100.0
Time of Possession - 16.0 / 16.0
(I think LM got TOP wrong...)

Passing
(TEN) Vince Young QB - 85.7, 16/28 (57.1%) 282 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs
(HOU) Matt Cassel QB - 149.4, 16/21 (76.2%) 270yds, 2 TDs

Rushing
(TEN) Kenarious Fluellen HB - 16 for 36 yds, 2.3avg 1 TD
(TEN) Vince Young QB - 3 for 30 yds, 10.0avg 1 TD
(HOU) Earl Bowman HB - 20 for 133 yds, 6.7avg, 2 TDs

Receiving
(TEN) Brian Hartline WR - 2 for 77 yds
(TEN) Bensly Blake WR - 3 for 67 yds
(TEN) Jalen Driskell TE - 5 for 57 yds, 1 TD
(TEN) Kenarious Fluellen HB - 3 for 42 yds, 1 TD
(TEN) Onaje Lewis WR - 3 for 39 yds
(HOU) Anquan Boldin WR - 5 for 84 yds, 1 TD
(HOU) Lenoy Tucker WR - 4 for 78 yds
(HOU) Andre Johnson WR - 4 for 56 yds, 1 TD

There are two types of lag. Aussie lag & Aussie Chris shit internet connection lag. Two different things

Chairman7 wrote:There are two types of lag. Aussie lag & Aussie Chris shit internet connection lag. Two different things

I think Chris only plugged his ethernet cable in halfway. #conspiracy.

Actually, I "hosted" the game, and he said he had no problems. It wasn't horrible, but on those two FGs, I had lag spikes. And when it's a FG, it seems like it's so much worse, but maybe that's just me.

Lots of complaining, but it was a genuinely great game.

Anyone else convinced the "lag" while kicking is intentional? I've had games that are lag free except for during kicks.

Chairman7 wrote:There are two types of lag. Aussie lag & Aussie Chris shit internet connection lag. Two different things

This.


I've played games against Ken where the lag wasn't even detectable, it was like he was sitting right next to me. The one game I played against Chris was absolutely unbearable.

WAH WAH WAH..... I've had games where the lag just kills the game, and games (like last night's against whingey Mike) where there was no lag, apart from the kicking.

When the lag is horrible, often the game seems to be 'choppy' like one every 2-4 seconds it skips for about 1/3 of a second.

Maybe this has something more to do with NAT settings than anything else, or maybe EA needs to just pull their finger out and sort out their shit servers.

Given Mike 'hosted' the game and I as essentially lag-free, maybe he's making up excuses.

radioheadhead wrote:WAH WAH WAH..... I've had games where the lag just kills the game, and games (like last night's against whingey Mike) where there was no lag, apart from the kicking.

When the lag is horrible, often the game seems to be 'choppy' like one every 2-4 seconds it skips for about 1/3 of a second.

Maybe this has something more to do with NAT settings than anything else, or maybe EA needs to just pull their finger out and sort out their shit servers.

Given Mike 'hosted' the game and I as essentially lag-free, maybe he's making up excuses.

It's funny, we're emailing each other about this, but you still insist on being a prick on the forums. Classy, asshole.

"Hosting" the game means nothing. It's still a P2P connection. And the lag DID fuck me. FGs are a lot more sensitive to lag hiccups.

Here are the facts: it's a game I almost and should have won. Stats say it thoroughly. It was a great game nonetheless, but I have plenty of valid reason to hate Madden for it.

Bone-headed plays from Mike's Texans late in the 4th QTR:

The 2pt Conversion
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/76147520

The Boldin reception & tumble
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/76147404

I love how Boldin celebrates the catch right at the end of the highlight. Cracks me up.

Finally, if you want to see how bad Madden really can be, explain to me how this isn't a TD. BULLLSHIT! (Against the Dolphins a few weeks ago)
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/76147964
A super-slow-mo replay in the post-game, showed a full 3 steps in bounds before stepping out. Madden wouldn't let me challenge it.

B-ROKEN!

radioheadhead wrote:Finally, if you want to see how bad Madden really can be, explain to me how this isn't a TD. BULLLSHIT! (Against the Dolphins a few weeks ago)
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/76147964
A super-slow-mo replay in the post-game, showed a full 3 steps in bounds before stepping out. Madden wouldn't let me challenge it.

B-ROKEN!

Those plays will live in my nightmares.

Also, you NEVER noticed that he only got one foot in-bounds? He came down on one and stepped out of bounds with the other. No TD. So much for that grudge!

Chris, I love you mate but I struggle to accept your opinion when you have a bet outstanding with Dr Ken.

My position is amplified many times over by the fact that Curry is involved.

Looked like it was a zone D and the QB entered the zone. I am not convinced that Young would have been caught by those LB's.

Tough break, but I think the offensive playcall just beat the Defensive playcall.

RealJeffSolo wrote:Looked like it was a zone D and the QB entered the zone. I am not convinced that Young would have been caught by those LB's.

Tough break, but I think the offensive playcall just beat the Defensive playcall.

Haha, no, no, no. Sorry, but I've got to disagree there. If he scrambles, he's got THREE guys all over him before he hits the endzone, based on the three guys I've got coming after him.

Might have been zone, but I'm pretty sure I had guys in man in that last play. Even so, Madden 11's defense isn't set up in a way that logically reflects real life. In a situation like that, players wouldn't react that way. That's the point I'm making. It's a tough break nonetheless, and I still say that Chris really earned that win.

radioheadhead wrote:Bone-headed plays from Mike's Texans late in the 4th QTR:


Finally, if you want to see how bad Madden really can be, explain to me how this isn't a TD. BULLLSHIT! (Against the Dolphins a few weeks ago)
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/76147964
A super-slow-mo replay in the post-game, showed a full 3 steps in bounds before stepping out. Madden wouldn't let me challenge it.

B-ROKEN!

I have no idea what you are looking at. That's not a catch. The receiver starts catching the ball but does not demonstrate possession, gets one foot in bounds then steps out of bounds. That's not a catch.

Chairman7 wrote:
I have no idea what you are looking at. That's not a catch. The receiver starts catching the ball but does not demonstrate possession, gets on foot in bounds then steps out of bounds. That's not a catch.

Yeah, exactly what I said. THIS is what Chris has been going on about for weeks?

mikesuszek wrote:

Chairman7 wrote:
I have no idea what you are looking at. That's not a catch. The receiver starts catching the ball but does not demonstrate possession, gets on foot in bounds then steps out of bounds. That's not a catch.

Yeah, exactly what I said. THIS is what Chris has been going on about for weeks?

Gotta agree, if at most, he has one foot in.